Abstract:
A star passing within the sphere of disruption of a massive black hole will
be torn apart by tidal forces. For sufficiently low-mass black holes, this
disruption will occur outside the event horizon and lead to a bright
transient known as a tidal disruption flare. Even with only a handful of
candidates identified to date, the electromagnetic signatures have shown a
remarkable diversity, from the discovery of newly born relativistic jets in
Sw J1644+57 and Sw J2058+05, to a He-rich but H-poor accretion disk in
PS1-10jh and PTF09ge. Here we request a ToO program with Gemini to help
identify and study newly discovered TDF candidates. In these early days, each
new candidate presents a real opportunity to fundamentally advance our
understanding of the basic physics of these objects. Ultimately, our
long-term aims are: 1) To use these sources as probes of the properties of
central black holes in distant, quiescent galaxies beyond the reach of
current kinematic sutdies, and 2) To better understand the circumstances
required to launch a relativistic jet.